With over 230k peak player count on Steam, Once Human proves it's here to stay

Once Human is a brand new free-to-play survival-craft MMO developed by Starry Studio. The game puts players in a huge post-apocalyptic world where they have to collect, craft, and engage in combat with strange monsters. Once Human is currently ranked as the second most popular survival based MMO on Steam, after Palworld.

Besides the game's meteoric rise, developer Starry Studio is also relatively devoid of any controversy. On the other hand, Palworld was embroiled in accusations of copying elements from the Pokemon franchise.

With both the peak player count and the long-term seasonal content plans in mind, Once Human seems set for the long run. In this article, we'll assess why this is the case.

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The peak player count of Once Human proves it's not leaving anytime soon

With a wide variety of gameplay activities Once Human appeals to a large player base (Image via Starry Studio)

Following its release, Once Human quickly climbed the rankings, becoming the 9th most popular launch title on Steam so far in 2024. Its player count soon peaked at 230k, and it's since been maintaining a healthy average of 149k players since then.

As many who have played MMOs for a while will know, nothing kills an online game faster than a low player count. The content of these titles depends on the ability to engage in frequent multiplayer activity, and, without a high player count, this becomes difficult.

When multiplayer content becomes less easy to engage with due to lack of players, a game enters what is often labeled a "death spiral". Due to this, a new MMO's launch can be an anxious time for those excited to play it, as they hope the launch will be successfully populated.

Thankfully for fans of Once Human, the launch has been an absolute success and the game is healthier than anyone could have hoped. With its varied blend of gathering, combat, crafting, base building, and world exploration, there is something for every type of player to do. This, combined with its seasonal style content and ever-evolving world, have given many hope that it will not just do well now, but also in the future.

Starry Studio seems intent on taking advantage of this player count and surely has exciting content planned once this season comes to a close.

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The competitor's controversy

Palworld faced intense controversy over its monster designs after release (Image via Pocketpair)

Something other than player count that Once Human has in its favor is the lack of controversy compared to its most well known peer, Palword. Anyone who was following the latter at the time of launch surely couldn't avoid seeing tweets and articles about their comparison to Pokemon.

Palworld was accused of stealing designs. For example, Verdash, Grintale, and Fenglope were accused of looking similar to certain Pokemon. Although these claims certainly didn't dampen the success of the game, it did take a toll on its reputation and on the developers themselves. Whether they did in fact copy designs from Pokemon has yet to be seen, be it in the form of legal action from Nintendo or an admission of guilt from Pocketpair.

The developers of Once Human have surely been thankful that they haven't had to deal with similar issues, for the sake of their company's reputation and also for the safety and health of their developers.

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Check out our other guides on this game:

• 5 beginner tips for Once Human
• Once Human Mobile release date
• All Closed Beta test rewards
• How to find fireproof plastic in Once Human